Breakfast Experiments

They say that breakfast is the most important meal of the day, which is a good thing for me because I LOVE it! I must confess that I could eat a bagel and cream cheese every day for the rest of my life and not tire of them, but pregnancy has made me reevaluate how I start my day. While bagels aren't bad for you, there are certainly better options out there. Options that give you a better "bang for your calories", if you will.

Like, for example, my friend, OATMEAL :)

My favorite oatmeal is McCann's Irish Oatmeal (quick cooking).

No other brands really compare to its taste and texture, though I recently found Country Choice Organic Oats (quick cooking) on sale at Whole Foods and have been really happy with them too.

I've been getting pretty creative about what I put in my oatmeal... because who wants to eat boring, bland oatmeal? Not me. So, here's a list of random ingredients that I've tried adding.. not all together, of course.

Fruit

Bananas (sliced)

Blueberries

Strawberries

Peaches

Apples (diced)

Additional Toppings

Sliced Almonds

Dried Fruit

Coconut

Something Sweet

Brown Sugar

Agave Nectar

Milk

1% Milk

Vanilla Soy Milk

This morning my combination included bananas, blueberries, coconut, a little agave nectar, & milk. Delicious ... and the coconut was a nice, unexpected touch. Another favorite is brown sugar and apples with milk. If you use the vanilla soy milk, you probably won't need to add any more sugar since the milk is sweetened and the fruit adds some sweetness too.

Let me know if you have any other combinations that you enjoy! The possibilities are endless.

26 Weeks

Tomorrow I will be 26 weeks pregnant! It's so hard to believe that I'm almost to my 3rd trimester! Where does the time go?! {Never mind, I know the answer to that... it's a cute 2 year old named Carter... who also happens to be extremely demanding of his mommy's time.} As you can tell by the picture above (sorry about the poor quality again.. blame it on the ipod touch), baby Cooper has grown a lot over the past month!! Here are some of the highlights:

-I'm still feeling really good on most days and haven't yet hit the "I feel HUGE" point of pregnancy ... YET.

-I'm thankful that (for the most part) the heat has held off in TN. I'm not really looking forward to being huge and hot :)

-I am still trying to workout 3-4 times per week. My parents have a treadmill at their house, so I'm making good use of it these days. It works out nicely because I can go in the afternoons while Carter enjoys some playtime at Bella's! I'm also going to the gym when I can at night.

-I haven't had any real "cravings" other than food in general :) It seems that I'm always hungry and have the appetite of a horse, but unfortunately, not the room to hold it all. I've found that eating several small meals a day is better than indulging all at once.

-We've picked out a paint color for the nursery called Pistachio Ice Cream. I'm REALLY hoping it looks good because I've had a rough time finding a green color that isn't mint, sage, or yellow-green. We'll see :) Cooper's bedding is ready to go. It's called Farm Patch by Pottery Barn Kids. I love it and am currently on the hunt for some art prints to match! There is still lots to be done on the nursery, but I'm slowly making progress in transitioning it from a guest bedroom. Pics to come!

-Overall, I've been more relaxed with this pregnancy than I was with Carter. I think it has a lot to do with God's grace and mercy in calming my anxiety, but it also helps that having another boy requires a lot less preparation than it did the first time around. Thanks for your continue prayers!

Easy Strawberry Pie

Like strawberries? Got some to use up?

Our Whole Foods recently had organic strawberries on sale for $1.99/lb ... so after saving some for Carter's snack and then using some in a DELICIOUS spinach salad (spinach, grilled chicken, strawberries, feta cheese, & balsamic vinaigrette) for Sunday lunch... I still had a whole pound left. I decided to make this yummy and EASY Strawberry Pie. It's one of my mom's old recipes and I hope you enjoy it!

STRAWBERRY PIE

2 quarts fresh strawberries (I used 1 lb and it was plenty)

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup water

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1 package strawberry Jell-O

1 tablespoon lemon juice

1 pie crust shell

Bake pie shell as directed. Let cool.

Mix together 1 cup of the strawberries, cornstarch, water, Jell-O, sugar, & lemon juice. Boil for approximately 2 minutes or until clear. Cool. {I didn't cool it all the way.. just so that it was warm and not scalding hot from boiling} Mix this mixture with the remaining strawberries.

Pour into baked pie shell. Refrigerate for 3 hours.

Top with whipped cream or Cool Whip if desired.

photo credit